On the planet Cybertron, this big hero named Primus makes a huge sacrifice so all the Transformers, these robot-like aliens who can change shapes, have this energy called Energon to grow. Everything’s peachy until they get into a war with these guys called Quintessenziani, who basically wipe out most of the toughest Transformer warriors called “Prime.” Only Sentinel Prime survives and leads his people to live underground. With the Command Matrix gone missing, Energon stops flowing. Now it’s up to these miner bots that can’t transform to dig up whatever resources are left down there. Everyone’s really hoping that during one of Sentinel’s trips to the surface, he might find the Matrix and bring back some hope to Cybertron.

After so many Transformer movies one after another over the years, they’ve decided on a few different paths: like giving us Bumblebee, this fun spinoff that’s pretty nostalgic for teens today; plus there’s something called Transformers – Il risveglio that acts kind of like a prequel or maybe even a reboot.

Now they’re going back to animated movies with Transformers One, taking it old-school style just like when Hasbro first started in the ’80s by having writers create stories for their toys. This time around it’s aimed at younger audiences—preteens—telling them all about Optimus Prime and Megatron battling it out once again in their never-ending rivalry.
So, this movie digs into a big showdown between America’s all about fairness vibe—think Optimus Prime with his red, white, and blue—and the nasty “might makes right” way of thinking from Megatron and his Decepticons. It’s by Josh Cooley, who also did Toy Story 4. The story kicks off way back when Optimus was known as Orion Pax, and Megatron used to go by D-16. They were buddies, always helping each other out until life threw them some curveballs that tore them apart.

Even if you’re not a Transformers buff, it’s pretty clear where these two are headed: Orion Pax is this charming but giving guy who ends up clashing with D-16. Now, D-16 might act like a trusty friend, but he’s got some serious gripes just itching to blow up.

Honestly, the plot is basic and kind of predictable. It doesn’t really pull you in like those fancy Spielberg-produced ones with jaw-dropping CGI moves. Michael Bay had his flaws but man, he swung for the fences with his vision—trying to capture this new kind of action-packed filmmaking totally tied to technology. This newer Hasbro stuff seems scaled-back now and misses some of that superhero-style flair that made Bay’s stuff larger than life.
Transformers One feels a bit like watching a Gormiti episode, with its never-ending fight between Good and Evil. You have to try hard to remember all those complicated names and extra details that don’t change a thing in our lives. It’s loaded with references, and you can clearly see nods to Marvel—especially with Elita, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, who’s like an alternate version of the Black Widow—and, of course, Star Wars is in there too, complete with another chatty C3PO-like character and predictable shifts to the Dark Side.

Optimus Prime as a toy is still super popular and might be around for ages. But when it comes to the movie side of things? Well, they’re in some murky waters unless they shake things up big time.